Local artist telling stories of others through new downtown business

If you’re walking around downtown Stratford, you might notice a sandwich board that says “Our Stōr(y) has the exact thing you didn’t know you were looking for.”

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This, perhaps, is the perfect slogan for the store run by local artist Kevin September.

“People come in here smiling and quoting it to me, and then want me to show them that thing. And, of course, I say ‘I can’t show you that thing. You know what that thing is, even if you haven’t found it yet.’ Then they walk out of here with a book or with a piece of art or wearing some jewelry,” September said.

“Everybody likes a story, so my place is a store full of stories,” he added.

Those stories, and their corresponding items, are far ranging at Our Stōr(y), which just opened in May. Beyond the traditional pieces that one would expect at an art store, this list of what September has on hand includes, but is not limited to, books from local authors and locally made jewelry. There is even a Dutch version of shuffleboard, pickleball paddles and a crokinole board. Visitors can enjoy a hop water or a kombucha while they’re finding that thing they never knew they needed.

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“Somehow crokinole and pickleball work with fine art here because crokinole was created in this county,” September said.

Even before he opened his shop, September had always had a need and desire to tell stories. This has been part of almost every job he’s had, whether he knew it at the time or not, September said.

“I love the idea of ​​sharing stories. I do that in my everyday life, whether I’m inside the shop or outside the shop. I do that on Mondays, when I’m closed. In some shape or form, whether I’m directly engaging with people or writing something or sending off an email or a proposal, I’m a storyteller,” he said.

After moving to Stratford in 2021, September’s idea for Our Stōr(y) gradually built inside him while he worked at a gallery in the city.

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“Before moving here, I knew this city was creative beyond the footlights of the theater. Then meeting creatives from all different disciplines and mediums, I got excited by it,” he explained.

Although he sells the work of others, September does not like to call his business a consignment store or even an art gallery.

“If the headline was a consignment store. . . people would have a perception. They’d come here and buy people’s used things. I understand where the crossover might be. I just don’t like the term gallery because I find it’s limiting and it’s also sometimes intimidating,” he said.

Local jeweler Sandra Balestrin, who entered Our Stōr(y) to drop off some of her work while the Beacon Herald was there, said she had recently been thinking about what the shop is.

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“Literally this morning. . . I knew I was coming here to drop off some of my jewelry. I was thinking, ‘is there a way to merge those words, like a gallerstore or a gallershop, or whatever. A shopper.’ I don’t know,” Balestrin said.

“Instead of a little shop of horrors, it’s a little shop of uniqueness. Instead of antiquities, it’s uniqueities,” she added.

When September was first choosing what pieces of work he would sell, he also had to decide where he would source the work from. While he originally thought he would solely source from Stratford, that notion quickly expanded to include Perth and Huron counties and then further expanded when he met an artist from Guelph.

“I didn’t want to limit myself too much, but I didn’t want to call myself local and be full of Canadian things, or even things from Ontario. I think there’s a lot of that everywhere, in all cities,” he said.

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A search of the words “Huron” and “Perth” on an Ontario tourism website came up with the result, “Huron Perth Waterloo Wellington,” giving September the idea for the tagline that now adorns his website, shop front, and a map at the back of the store.

“And I went, ‘that’s my region.’ Then I promptly met somebody from Orangeville that I had to turn down,” he said with a laugh.

“Because once you have it, you have it. There’s lots of great work everywhere, but I wanted to focus on something relatable to not only the locals here, but also the visitors, that would be interesting,” he said.

Beyond what he sells and where it comes from, September aims for Our Stōr(y) to become more of a community space for those who may not have the means to spend money at a traditional gallery.

“You can come in here spend $4 for a kombucha and play a game of crokinole, or as somebody did. . . come in and do a sketch at my window bar while you’re having a cold beverage and walk out of here with some artwork that you made, and have a kombucha in your belly,” he said.

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